Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tissue culture devices for mass cultivation of cells and in particular to a housing containing a culture disc holder consisting of a cradle-like frame wherein said frame is notched for the positioning, alignment and separation of the culture discs which can be selectively and individually removed or added without removing other discs.
Tissue culture devices having a plurality of spaced apart discs or plates supported on a central rod extending through the disc stack are used in mass cell culture and are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,839,155, 4,004,981 and 4,065,359. These devices disclose means for loading the discs upon the shaft which is enclosed within a cylindrical vessel and is provided with means to rotate the discs relative to the vessel through which gases and culture media are passed. Such systems are also shown in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,483. Similar systems using blades rather than discs are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,028,314 and 3,062,724. In each of the above patented apparatuses, the discs or blades are supported upon a central axial shaft which requires that the entire shaft be removed from the vessel and then all discs be slipped off the shaft to give access to a given central disc, etc.